


Uncertainties

by DarkMasterofCupcakes



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: And minor Glimbow, But minor Catradora, Catra and Adora are protective aunts, Catra especially, Fan Kid, Future AU, Gen, Grief, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Glimmer, Mentions of Injuries, Michelle is Glimmer and Bow's daughter, No major ships - Freeform, Prequel to friend's story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 11:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18180137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMasterofCupcakes/pseuds/DarkMasterofCupcakes
Summary: When another tragedy befalls her family, Queen Angella awaits some news.





	Uncertainties

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Bloody Feathers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17919365) by [mandaree1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandaree1/pseuds/mandaree1). 



It had only been a few hours since the message had been delivered, packaged in an envelope alongside three fairly small but nonetheless very recognizable feathers, ruffled from being stuffed into the envelope but still with the same yellow-gold hue. And it had been even less time since the small rescue party – consisting of her daughter, her son-in-law, and their closest friends – had left for the Fright Zone with the mission of infiltrating the enemy’s base and recovering the captured girl. 

Angella felt her fingers curl up at the thought, her nails briefly digging into the skin of her palm before she had the sense of mind to relax her muscles.

But, the thought still lingered in her brain. 

Despite how much she would no doubt protest if she’d been around to hear it, Michelle was still very young – barely nineteen years old, which was still basically a child if you asked the Queen of Bright Moon. Still little more than a child, and yet they had kept sending her into the enemy stronghold, alone, for the sake of gathering information and potentially learning secrets and plans that could give them an advantage over the Horde. 

She should have put a stop to those missions long ago, Angella thought to herself, even though she knew it wouldn’t have done any good. 

Her granddaughter was just as headstrong and willful as her daughter, and even more brazen about it. While Glimmer had always simply tried to go behind her back and try to argue her case whenever she had been reprimanded or punished for disobeying her mother…Michelle was another story entirely. She had even started doing these spying missions as a result of her willingness to defy very specific orders. 

When she had first suggested the possibility of her using her power to turn invisible in order to sneak into and spy on the soldiers in the Horde, the answer from all of the adults in the room had been unanimous: a resounding “no”. Despite being expressly told that she would not be taking on that task, several days later the girl had appeared to have run off, being nowhere to be found before finally reappearing several hours later. 

When Catra had revealed exactly where she had been, the reactions – especially from Michelle’s parents and grandmother – had not been pretty, their fear giving way to anger as they lectured the teenager. 

Michelle had taken the lecture in silence, and when she’d finally been allowed to give her response, she had simply said she wasn’t going to apologize because she wasn’t sorry for what she’d done; she had gathered potentially useful information that wouldn’t be available to them if she hadn’t gone against the wishes of her family. 

This had been almost immediately followed by a shockingly blatant declaration: “Besides, it was a stupid order, so obviously I was gonna ignore it.” 

Needless to say, she was immediately punished, being grounded for several months, along with other privileges being denied during that time. 

However, during that time, they’d all been forced to consider the information the girl had gathered during her self-imposed mission. As painful as it was to admit, the truth was that Michelle had a point: the information she had gathered could potentially be very useful to their efforts. And while things had turned somewhat in their favor over the past two decades or so, they were still on the losing side of the war against the Hode; they needed all the advantages they could get, including having access to the enemy’s secrets. 

So, after a great deal of debate and arguing, it was decided that Michelle would indeed be given the task of spying on the Horde. 

When Angella had given her the assignment, she had also listed off several conditions that also came with it: she would only take on assignments given to her by either the Queen or the Commander – a repeat of her first excursion to the Fright Zone would not be tolerated, under any circumstance; and she was to only remain within enemy territory for as long as it took to gather whatever information was needed, and return to Bright Moon immediately afterward. 

She had accepted without delay, and for over three years, she would periodically be sent into the Fright Zone, using her ability to turn invisible, as well as skills she had learned throughout the years to secretly gather whatever information or knowledge she could. 

And, as much it pained them to keep sending her into that place alone, she did often return with valuable information, notes about weapons and strategies that the Horde planned to use against the Rebellion. 

There were times, almost too many to count, however, when they had their doubts as to whether the continued espionage assignments were worth it; whether they were worth the effect they seemed to have on the girl. She never really talked much about what she saw while she was there, other than what was deemed crucial information, but it was clear that whatever she witness had…changed her. 

For the most part, Michelle had acted the same as she always did – an overall sweet and energetic (if somewhat stubborn) girl who was pretty much always eager to help and just be a part of whatever was going on around Bright Moon…though some would say that her enthusiasm tended to be a bit much.

At the same time, while she did her best to hide it, she often seemed to be on almost constant alert; like she was unable to fully drop the mindset of needing to be constantly aware of her surroundings, even when she was home. She seemed to be slightly on edge more often than not, and didn’t seem to be sleeping as well as she had been before taking on the missions. 

Most concerning, however, was something that the two former Horde soldiers were the first to pick up on: the princess, whether she realized it or not, seemed to be adopting some of the mannerisms that were taught to the soldiers in the Fright Zone. In particular, she suddenly seemed to take any and all mistakes she made very seriously, even when she was reassured that there was no need to worry. 

Despite the concerns from all involved, they allowed her to continue with the missions…and now this. 

Angella took a breath and made sure to compose herself as she heard a knock upon the door to her throne room. 

“You may enter,” she said to whoever was on the other side, making sure to keep her voice even, not showing any signs of the two emotions that battled for dominance in her brain; hope and fear. She kept her face neutral as the door opened and one of her guards approached the floating steps leading to her throne. 

The man bowed to his Queen, before standing up and delivering his message. 

“Your highness, I have been instructed to inform you that the rescue party has returned from the Red Waste, and that the princess has been taken to the infirmary,” he said in a very matter-of-fact tone of voice. 

He seemed to be awaiting her response, though he was obviously respectful enough to avoid prompting her to speak. 

“Thank you,” Angella said after a moment. She raised her hand slightly to dismiss the guard. “That will be all for now.” 

The guard inclined his head just barely enough that she was even able to notice the movement, giving a quick salute before turning on his heels and exiting the room, once again leaving the Queen alone with her thoughts. 

There had been a part of her that wanted to ask for more information before he left. After all, what she had been told really wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, and at least half of the information would probably be considered common knowledge. They had known Michelle had been injured ever since the letter had arrived with her feathers placed inside the envelope; the only question was how much damage had really been done. 

However, what told her the most wasn’t the words that her guard had said, but rather it was the simple fact that he had been the one to deliver the information. Angella had expected that the return would have been announced by her daughter, or at the very least, she had expected that Glimmer, or one of the members of her small rescue party, would come to see her, if only briefly, to inform her on how the rescue mission had gone. 

The fact that they hadn’t was enough for her to realize that the situation must have been even more serious than she had initially feared. 

There was a part of her that considered visiting the infirmary, if only for the sake of learning exactly what the severity of her granddaughter’s injuries were; but she ultimately decided against it. After all, she told herself, there wasn’t anything she’d be able to do in this situation that the healers wouldn’t be more than capable of taking care of themselves; and the last thing they’d need is to have people in the way while they worked – even if one of those people was their Queen. 

Angella ignored the small voice in the back of her mind that suggested that maybe her decision to avoid the room during this time came from something else entirely. Namely, the idea that the reason she didn’t want to be in the room was because…

She had sat by Micah’s side as he died from the wounds he’d sustained in the final battle of the Old Alliance; she’d watched as her husband died. Maybe, the voice whispered, she just didn’t want to watch the same thing happen a second time. Maybe she didn’t want to watch as another person she loved died. 

“Maybe I should take a walk,” Angella said, beginning to step down the floating platforms that connected her throne to the main body of the room even before the words had left her mouth. “It would be good for me to get a bit of fresh air. I’ve been in here too long, I think.” 

At the very least, she figured it would be good for her to take a few moments to stretch out her legs. She’d basically been sitting since the rescue party had gone out, and that had been several hours ago.

As she stepped through the door, she took a brief moment to inform the soldier standing guard of what she intended to do, and then began to walk down the hall. 

There were guards as she walked, some simply crossing her path as they walked, while others stood by the doors they’d been assigned to guard, with different pairs showing different degrees of skill at being able to hide their impatience for another soldier to take their place. Most of them barely acknowledged her, with their only response being the occasional nod or the most subtle of bows; each of which she returned, in the instances where she noticed – she could not deny that she was rather distracted at the moment. 

Without thinking much about it, Angella soon found herself stepping into the hall that held the mural of the Old Alliance. 

She supposed it only made sense. After all, this was where she had always gone when she had a moment of quiet to think, combined with the inability to escape thinking about the weight of her many concerns. And she certainly had heavy concerns at the moment…

The Queen slowly stepped up to the mural, looking up at the images with eyes full of so many emotions that to anyone who did not know her well, she would almost seem to show no feeling whatsoever. 

Most of the mural was in serious disrepair – color fading away, paint chipped, small cracks in the wall itself; the only reason she didn’t order for it to be erased was because of the history it held. 

Yes, the Old Alliance had been a failure, but if there was one thing she had learned in her long life, it was that it was just as important to acknowledge and remember the times you failed, just as much as the times you succeeded; even if she didn’t like to remember this particular failure - for obvious reasons. 

Angella felt a familiar pain in her heart as she looked up at the image of her late husband. 

The image of Micah was the only part of the mural that Angella insisted on being upkept, the paint being retouched every half year or so to keep the colors bright and the image as clear as it had been on the day the mural had first been drawn upon the wall. While she refused to erase the memories of the previous alliance as a whole because she felt she needed to have a reminder of even the painful parts of her past, her instance on maintaining her husband’s place in the mural came from a different place entirely. 

There was no logic in that decision – only emotion. She just couldn’t take the idea of even the image of Micah being allowed to fade from the passage of time. 

Yes, she knew that nothing would take away her memories of the time they had together, no matter how painfully brief it had seemed, but that knowledge did nothing to change her mind. 

Angella didn’t say anything as she looked up at her husband’s image upon the wall – she never did. She simply came here to think, to clear her mind somewhat of the thoughts and emotions that swirled like a storm within her brain before continuing on her way. 

Feeling an all too familiar twinge in her chest, Angella allowed a breath to escape her lips with an almost inaudible sound as she carefully laid her hand on the painting of her husband. 

She remained that way for several seconds, until she finally felt the weight in her heart begin to lift, if only slightly. Coming here always helped, at least a little; though she couldn’t help but feel as though the effect was lessened in this circumstance.

Still, Angella felt that it was time to move on – while it helped to come to this place, lingering would do her no good – and took a breath before stepping away from the wall. 

She allowed herself one last moment, and then she once again started to walk down the halls of the castle. 

Despite her decision to not enter the room, the Queen found herself walking in the direction of area of the castle that housed the infirmary. She didn’t actually go down that specific hall, but as she passed by, she couldn’t help but take a glance down the corridor. 

Why, she couldn’t exactly say, even to herself. Maybe there was a part of her that simply needed to know something, anything, about the situation involving Michelle – even if she knew there wasn’t much she could learn without actually entering the room. 

Silently, she looked down the hall to see it was mostly empty, save for Catra and Adora (or, more accurately, She-Ra) standing outside the doors that led to the infirmary itself. 

Despite the fact that Bright Moon was already as safe as it was possible to be in these times, the two former Horde soldiers stood guard outside the room, neither saying a word, though their body language said more than enough – as did the fact that Adora had apparently chosen not to revert back to her usual self after returning from the rescue mission, along with the blood that had stained the taller woman’s armor. 

Catra seemed particularly tense, her body pressed up close to the wall, and her ears turned towards the door as she seemed to be straining to hear whatever was happening on the other side. 

Her concern was not surprising; while they all cared deeply for Michelle, Catra had always been particularly close to the girl, even if she would often deny it when asked. She’d always adamantly defended her actions and decisions (even when she’d also have to admit that said decisions were not exactly the most intelligent), even going so far as to barely suppress a chuckle at Michelle’s comment about how the order given to not spy on the Horde had been stupid.

There wasn’t any hint of amusement on her face right now – just a sort of grim focus as she strained her ears to listen to whatever was occurring on the other side of the doors she and her lover were guarding. 

Angella couldn’t read their expressions very well from her vantage point, but she didn’t need to; what she saw gave her more than enough information. 

She felt her heart sink a little. If she hadn’t already known the situation was fairly dire, this all but confirmed it. The voice from before started to speak up once more, though this time she was able to ignore it almost entirely. 

Taking a breath, the Queen continued on her way, barely taking a moment to glance once more at the two women as continued down the corridor. It wasn’t long after that she found herself outside, inhaling the cool air with a smallest of smiles upon her face. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said she needed the fresh air. 

Lifting her head up slightly, the Queen looked up at the Moon Stone, its faint glow just barely visible in the light of day. 

Despite the distance between herself and the stone, Angella could still feel the soft thrum of magical energy course through her body as she closed her eyes and took another deep breath. 

She may not have needed to recharge the same way her daughter did when she overexerted herself, but she did still get a noticeable feeling of rejuvenation and power from being near her kingdom’s runestone. 

Angella unfurled her wings slightly to stretch them out a bit, and then continued to stroll down the path. She walked slowly; it was a lovely day and she was in no rush to go back inside. And if anybody needed her, she had informed the guard of her location – he could pass on that information to anyone else, should they feel the need to ask. 

Without having reason to leave, the Queen slowly walked along in the gardens of Bright Moon, occasionally taking a moment to admire some of the decorative plants that dotted the path, but mostly just enjoying the breeze and the ability to stretch her legs…and trying to ignore the fears that kept trying to bubble up to the top of her brain. 

She paced about for what felt like hours before finally deciding it was time for her to go inside the palace once more. 

As she walked through the halls of Castle Bright Moon, she felt a renewed sense of dread. It was as though the time she’d spent in the sun had just made her all the more aware of the thing she was most afraid of; she wondered if she had made the right decision. 

As she continued to step down the corridor, she realized that she wasn’t alone – Bow was walking down the same hallway, coming from the opposite direction. 

“Bow,” Angella said by way of greeting. She did her best to smile, despite the feeling of fear that flooded through her veins. “How is…?” 

Her voice trailed off and her heart sank as she saw the look on the archer’s face. 

Bow’s face was drained of color, and it was clear that he’d been crying – the redness of his eyes and the marks on his cheeks were evidence enough of that. 

Angella felt her chest tighten slightly as she considered the possible reasons why he would look so distraught; she knew grief all too well. Without thinking, she reached out and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, the touch appearing to pull him away from whatever thoughts he’d been dwelling on – and he actually looked up at the Queen for the first time since she’d called out his name. 

“Your Majesty,” he said, bowing his head slightly as a sign of respect; something he seemed to do out of reflex and respect, even though they’d been family for nearly two decades by this point. She had long stopped trying to tell him that the gesture was unnecessary long ago. Instead, she opens her mouth to speak, and then closes it again, because she’s unsure of what exactly she can say. 

Finally she opened her mouth again, thinking of the only question that she could actually bring herself to ask of him: “Where is Glimmer?” 

“She wanted to stay with Michelle,” Bow said, looking away as he continued to speak. “I…I had to take care of some things for her…and for me…and just in general. There’s a lot that needs to be taken care of.” 

“You know you don’t have to worry about any of that, Bow. I’m sure somebody would be happy to take care of the arrangements for you,” the Queen said without thinking. 

As the words left her lips, she suddenly thought about what she was saying – and she immediately wished she could take them back. She should have realized…

”Thank you, ma’am…but with all due respect…I think I’d rather take care of things myself,” he said, briefly meeting her eyes before looking away once more. 

Angella nodded in understanding. If there was one thing she could fully understand, it was needing a distraction in times like this. After all, hadn’t she just spent several moments trying to distract herself from all of the things that she wanted to avoid considering? 

“Let me know if there is anything you need,” she told him, her tone and expression both making it clear exactly what she meant by that. Bow simply gave an almost unnoticeable nod and thanked her, before continuing on his way to wherever he’d been heading before their paths crossed. 

Angella made her way back to the throne room, trying to ignore the fact that her heart felt like it was sinking further and further down with each step she took. She was now certain that there would soon be news worth hearing. Whether it was news she wanted to hear or not was the question – one that she knew she could not avoid. 

And so she walked to her throne room, barely acknowledging the guard’s salute with a nod as she stepped inside, slowly walking down the path to her throne, where she sat and she waited. 

Just as she expected, only a few moments passed before there was a knock on the door, followed by the guard’s voice announcing that the head medic of Bright Moon was there to speak with her. Angella took a moment to brace herself for what she knew she might hear, before saying, “Send him in.”  
Less than a second after the Queen had given the order, the doors opened and in stepped a fairly tall man with salt-and-pepper hair, dressed in a set of medical tunics. The expression on his face was unreadable as he stepped towards her throne, and remained completely neutral as he briefly knelt before her in greeting.

“You have news, I presume?” Angella said as the man got to his feet. She saw no reason to beat around the bush, not about something as serious as this. 

The medic hesitated for so brief a moment that she almost wasn’t sure it had even happened, before nodding his head. The Queen of Bright Moon said nothing in return, but that was all the man standing before her needed to know he was permitted to continue. 

“Princess Michelle’s injuries have been treated to the best of the abilities of my team and myself, and she is currently in…stable condition,” he stated, his expression making it evident that he was choosing his words carefully. “I predict that she will heal fairly well over time, if she wakes.” 

For a brief moment, Angella felt a sense of relief flood over her…and then she realized exactly what the medic had said. Specifically, she noticed the exact word he’d used when bringing up the idea of her granddaughter waking. 

“… _If_ she wakes?” she questioned, trying to force the fear from showing in her voice; which may have resulted in the question coming off as more of a threat than she had intended. 

The medic noticeably flinched – clearly he thought he had said too much; even though he also seemed to recognize the fact that he could not keep information from his Queen, even if the news wasn’t good. 

“Your Majesty…please understand that we have done all that we could, everything possible to help her. But…the fact is that she had already lost a lot of blood by the time we were able to work on her – most of her feathers had been ripped out, and rather violently by the looks of it, and in order to properly clean and treat the wounds, we were forced to remove the few that remained. There is also the very real risk of infection. I administered antibiotics, both topical and otherwise, but only time can tell how effective they will be,” the man said, clearly trying to explain the situation in a way that kept him from sounding heartless…but also made it clear just how serious it was. 

He paused, taking a moment to look up at the Queen to see how she was reacting to his words. Her face was difficult for him to read – it seemed like she had put on a mask of sorts, though if he’d been close enough, he would have been able to read her emotions very clearly in her eyes. The one thing that was clear to both of them was that the man had more to say, and the woman was waiting to hear his words. 

The medic took a breath, almost seeming to steel himself for what he was about to say. And then he finally said it: “She did stop breathing while we worked on her.”

At this statement, Angella could not stop her body from going stiff, her wings unfurling slightly as though she wanted to literally escape the words she’d just heard; the terror and heartbreak showed all too clearly on her face for the moment before she forced the mask back on. 

“We were able to resuscitate her,” the medic said quickly. “As I said before, her condition is currently stable…But you must understand that can easily change, either for the better…or for the worst. At this point, there is not much that anyone can do, other than wait.” 

There was a moment of silence that passed between them, as Angella considered what she’d just heard. A part of her almost wanted to ignore everything other than the good news that she’d heard before: that Michelle was still alive, despite all of the fears that had been attempting to invade her mind since it was revealed she’d been captured by the Horde. At the same time, if there was one lesson she’d taken to heart in all the long years she’d lived, it was that trying to deny the hard truths you faced in life helped no one, not even yourself. 

“Does Glimmer know?” she asked the man before her. The question could also be applied to her son-in-law – though in the case of Bow, she had already seen clear evidence that he knew the situation was rather dire, even if it was difficult to say if he knew just how much. But, she hadn’t seen her daughter in hours. 

“I have not yet informed the Commander of the prognosis,” the medic said in response. “I understand that withholding this information from her is inappropriate, but after everything that’s happened....I must confess that I could not bring myself to deliver the news. All she knows is that the princess is currently stable and that we will be monitoring her closely until she awakens.” 

In other words, Angella thought grimly, they failed to tell Glimmer that it was apparently far from a sure thing that Michelle would awaken. 

Not that she could entirely blame them; how do you tell a parent something like that? The idea of losing your child was…well, it was impossible to even imagine, even to someone like Angella, who had often feared the possibility of that very thing happening to her ever since Glimmer had begun taking an active role in the Rebellion; but she had never truly been forced to face the possibility. 

However, as much as she could understand not wanting to deliver the bad news…

”Somebody has to tell her.” Angella’s voice was low as she spoke, addressing herself just as much, if not more, than the man standing in front of her. 

She took a deep breath and stood from her seat, an action that seemed to surprise the medic somewhat, if the half-step back he took was any indication. 

Angella didn’t bother to apologize for startling him. Instead, she just stepped down the small platforms without another word, only pausing briefly at the final step to allow the medic to move aside to let her pass. 

The medic didn’t ask any questions about what she was doing; it seemed as though he already knew the answer, which in all fairness, he probably did. 

She had said that somebody needed to tell Glimmer about the hard truth regarding Michelle, and while she hadn’t named names…it was apparent that the medic was in no hurry to go about delivering the news. That meant the task had fallen upon her, no matter how much she wished it hadn’t. 

Once again, Angella found herself walking down the halls of Bright Moon, though this time, rather than trying to avoid the hall that held the infirmary she headed straight there. 

As she walked down the hall to the door, she saw that Catra and Adora were still standing guard, despite the fact that, for better or worse, whatever was going to happen inside that room had already occurred. 

Angella couldn’t help but feel somewhat touched by the gesture, as it showed just how much the two of them cared. But, at the same time, she felt that what she was about to discuss with her daughter was a topic best kept private. 

“The two of you should get some rest,” she told them, her words making it sound like a suggestion, while her tone made it all too clear that she was not truly giving them much of a choice. And that if either of them tried to refuse, she would not hesitate to invoke her rights as both the Queen of Bright Moon and the technical head of the Rebellion. 

Adora gave a nod and allowed herself to transform back to her normal self, while Catra just let out a low rumble from her chest, her tail flicking back and forth slightly as she eyed the immortal woman with a look of mild contempt. It was clearly taking all of her willpower to not at least say something. 

“C’mon, Catra – we can come back later,” Adora said, grabbing Catra gently by the wrist. The blonde briefly glanced apologetically towards the Queen – as though trying to say she was sorry for making such a promise – before beginning to walk away, Catra following behind reluctantly. 

Alone in the hall, Angella stood before the door and took a deep breath. She knew this had to be done, but that didn’t mean she was looking forward to it. Angella took another breath, internally steeling her nerves as she opened the doors and stepped inside, preparing herself for what she might see…and to tell her daughter what she needed to hear.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by a very tragic, but very well-done drabble by my good friend, mandaree1: "Bloody Feathers." To be more specific, it was inspired by a combination of the story itself, along with a fact that we had discussed regarding this universe that we have been fleshing out together. Namely, the idea that the injuries that Michelle had sustained while captured by the Horde (having the feathers in her back plucked out in order to try and torture her for information) were severe enough that her survival was not a sure thing.
> 
> This was particularly inspired by the fact that in "Bloody Feathers", Angella keeps thinking about Micah's death, even as she tries to reassure Glimmer that Michelle will be alright. Which sparked the idea for me that maybe Glimmer didn't actually know the truth about Michelle's chances...but Angella did, and she just couldn't quite bring herself to give the bad news to her daughter.
> 
> It also slightly explains Bow's absence in the other story - another thing we discussed. Basically a combination of him not being able to watch what's happening, and him legitimately feeling like there are things that need to be taken care of - because no matter what happens, probably safe to assume that neither he nor Glimmer are gonna be up for doing much in the near future.


End file.
